Wow this week has been INSANE. The show I assistant directed closes tonight and has had an AMAZING run. I feel like such a proud mama bear every time I watch the show. Starting next week I’ll be back on a normal schedule (thank goodness) although I’m uber sad the show will be over. Nothing like good ole show withdrawals.

ANYWAY.

Today on Saturday Spotlight, I am featuring Sydney Cade, author of The First Parallel and Lights in the Mist!

The First Parallel Summary:

In order to negate an Intergalactic security risk involving two different worlds, two men, one from each of those worlds, Steven Bell and his counterpart Steve Bell, must exchange places until the threat is neutralized. In this tale of dual worlds, alternate realities, forbidden love, and incredible truths, only one man is aware that the other world even exists until after the exchange. But when it’s reversed, both men are ordered to return to their home worlds and leave their star-crossed lovers behind. And so it begins . . .

Excerpt from: Chapter 1:

Genai: USA: Mobile, Alabama June 6, 1960 People living in the coastal city of Mobile went about their business as usual that summer morning in 1960. Coffee shops and breakfast bars were filled with early morning risers grabbing donuts and coffee to go, or sitting down to hot breakfasts, drinking coffee by the gallons, and reading the morning paper. It was a beautiful sunny day without the slightest hint of an approaching storm. But the storm was coming, and it would arrive at precisely 11:00 o’clock that night. Of the few thousand souls caught within its perimeter, none would be injured or suffer loss. Most would remain forever unaware of the storm’s true character and origin, and they would never know of the man who would be traveling with the lightning, and the thunder, and the rain.

Lights in the Mist Summary:

If Tennessee rancher, Ben Jordan, drove his pickup truck off a river bridge two years earlier and his family hasn’t seen or heard from him since, then who keeps driving that same truck with the damaged headlight across Mary Beth Allen’s farm in the evening mist? After the image of the missing man actually gets out of the truck and talks to her then suddenly disappears right in front of her, a terrified but intrigued Mary Beth is determined to find out what really happened to Ben Jordan.

Excerpt from: Chapter 1

Jimmy Styles pulled into his driveway in Baytown around three in the morning. He was glad to be home and out of that truck. It had been a long drive; 450 miles in six hours. He unlocked the door to his house and went in.

Ben woke up when he felt something bump him. He lay there in the dark in worse shape than ever; he had no memory of his past at all, no old car or black truck, no bridge, no restaurant, and no dog. He was terrified. He was sick. After a few minutes, he got out of the truck not even remembering where and when he got in it. He walked down the street away from the house in case somebody came out and found him and called the police. He didn’t need the police. He needed a doctor. His heart was beating ninety to nothing and his head still hurt, but he never once thought of knocking on the door of the house where the truck was parked and asking for help. All he could think of was finding a hospital.

He saw a sign on the corner of the street; Hickory Lane. Where was Hickory Lane? He wondered if somebody might be looking for him. Did he have a wife and a family somewhere? People usually had somebody, but he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, so he guessed he wasn’t married. Did he live around there? He wasn’t a complete blank. He knew generalities and geography; he just didn’t know about his own history within that bigger picture.

He instinctively looked at his watch; it was the wee hours of the morning. He had to get help. He tried to flag down a car or two that passed by, but nobody stopped. On his next try, a man driving a cab pulled over to the curb and called out to him.

“Where you want to go?”

“The nearest hospital.”

“Get in.”

“I don’t have any money.”

The driver grunted; the guy was wearing high priced boots and an expensive cowboy hat but no money for a cab.

“Get in.” He reached up and turned off the meter as Ben slid into the back seat. A few minutes later, the cab stopped outside the hospital emergency room, and Ben got out.

“Thank you,” was all he managed to say before he started vomiting again. The cabby threw the car into park and leaped out and held onto Ben as he staggered to the emergency room door.

“Hey, can somebody help us?” the cabby yelled to the guard on the door. In a matter of seconds, a young man wearing a white uniform came out and ran toward them.

“Hey, I need some help out here!” The man called over his shoulder as he took hold of Ben. They made it inside the entrance before Ben felt himself falling. Strong hands held fast to him and didn’t let go. As he was lowered to the floor, Ben looked up into a pair of blue eyes and grabbed hold of the young man’s shirt.

“I don’t know who I am,” he whispered just before he lost consciousness again. It was the last thing Ben Jordan would be aware of until the impossible dreams began.

Sydney Cade West Bio: Sydney Cade West writes adult Romance novels that sometimes include Paranormal (Ghost) and Science Fiction. (Alternate Reality and Time Travel). Sydney’s the alter ego of a graduate of the University of Alabama (roll Tide) with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from New College Division and a minor in Computer Science. She returned to the south after a ten year stint in Stamford, Connecticut where she worked for several years at Computer Software Systems as an in-house Documentation Supervisor. Later, she attended the University of Connecticut at Groton and excelled in literature, critical analysis, and writing.

Sydney’s a family oriented woman, loves animals, and lives in a rural area where she has plenty of room to enjoy life. She stays up late, gets up early, doesn’t smoke, drinks responsibly, and writes every day; turning her lifelong hobby into a passion for the written and published word. Her characters are appealing if sometimes unorthodox, and they’re living interesting and complicated lives between the pages of her books. sydneycw@charter.net